Autism screening questionnaire: Diagnostic validity

Abstract

BackgroundGood interview and diagnostic measures for autism and other pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) are available but there is a lack of a good screening questionnaire.AimsTo develop and test a screening questionnaire based on items in the best available diagnostic interview – the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI–R)MethodA 40 -item scale, the Autism Screening Questionnaire (ASQ), was developed and tested on a sample of 160 individuals with PDD and 40 with non-PDD diagnoses.ResultsThe ASQ has good discriminative validity with respect to the separation of PDD from non-PDD diagnoses at all IQ levels, with a cut-off of 15 proving most effective. The differentiation between autism and other varieties of PDD was weaker.ConclusionsThe ASQ is an effective screening questionnaire for PDD.